Jays baseball defeats North Dakota 4-1

The Creighton baseball team took advantage of three North Dakota errors to earn a 4-1 win in the Jays first home game of 2013 on Thursday.

The win moved the Bluejays to 8-3 on the season, while North Dakota fell to 7-7-1 overall.

North Dakota took a 1-0 lead in top of the second on a two-out RBI by Patrick Vandoorne off of Creighton starter, freshman Austin Groth.

The score remained 1-0 through the first five innings as North Dakota's Andrew Thome did not surrendered a hit to the Jays until senior Brennan Murphy laced a one-out single up the middle in the fifth.

Creighton broke through in the sixth in an unconventional manner as sophomore Kevin Lamb was hit by a pitch, then junior Brad McKewon drew a four-pitch walk. Attempting to move runners to second and third, junior Federico Castagnini dropped a bunt in front of home plate. North Dakota catcher, Zack Trygstad, pounced on the ball but his throw sailed all the way to the left field wall allowing Lamb, McKewon and Castagnini to score.

The Jays got an insurance run in the seventh in similar fashion as freshman Reagan Fowler was hit by a pitch. Creighton loaded the bases as North Dakota committed errors on consecutive bunt attempts. Fowler scored as Lamb bounced into a double play.

Using seven pitchers in the midweek contest, the Jays held North Dakota to just one run on three hits. Sophomore Mark Lukowski earned the win with two innings of scoreless relief, while sophomore Jake Peter recorded his first save with a perfect ninth.

Weather forced Thursday's game to be played at the CU Complex, Creighton's on campus home field.

Creighton will play their first game of the season at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha on Friday, March 15 as the Jays begin a three-game series with Pacific at 6 p.m.

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